WILOW-Ch.434: Infiltrating the Red Keep
King's Landing, Crownlands
POV of Domeric Bolton
Domeric's astral form flew outside the Red Keep and stared inside from every single window in the keep.
Lyra did not know where the two Tyrell siblings were, so it was up to him to find them.
And despite the novelty of the experience, the task was rather monotonous and boring.
The Red Keep was large, with many rooms and just as many windows.
It took him half an hour to finally find Loras and Margaery inside a secluded room in the White Sword Tower.
Once he finished the task, he returned to his camp and to his body.
The disorientation was there, and he had to close his eyes for a few moments to get control of his faculties.
Then he turned to Varko, who had been guarding his body all this while, and said, "Bring me Kalmyr."
Varko nodded in agreement and left the tent to carry out the order, returning shortly afterward with the person he had requested.
"What can I do for you, your majesty?" Kalmyr asked as soon as he entered the tent.
He ignored the man in favor of creating a small 3d model of the Red Keep and Aegon's High Hill, upon which the keep sat.
In the end, he turned and beckoned Kalmyr to come toward him.
"You see these stones in here?" He said, pointing to an area behind Aegon's High Hill.
Kalmyr nodded.
"There is a cave hidden behind these rocks." He said, "A cave that leads to a tunnel which leads to a set of tunnels underneath the Red Keep. I need you to send your wolves there and check out those tunnels. To make sure that the tunnels have not been compromised and to check one of these tunnels that lead to this tower in the Red Keep." He said while pointing at the White Sword Tower.
"That does not seem too hard." Kalmyr said, "How long do I have?"
"3 hours." He said, and Kalmyr grimaced.
"How will I reach this place?" Kalmyr asked as he pointed at the sea around Aegon's High Hill.
"You can leave that to me." He replied, and Kalmyr nodded.
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That night, Domeric used his camouflage cloak and flew out of the camp and above Blackwater Bay.
Visibility was low, so he had to use the magical eyepatch to see anything.
Two minutes of hoverboard flying later, he finally arrived on the rocks behind Aegon's Hill.
Kalmyr was already waiting there for him with his wolves. "Did you find it?" he asked, and Kalmyr nodded.
"It was not that hard." Kalmyr said, "But the corridor outside the secret tunnel is filled with the Baratheon men. I don't think that you alone will be enough for this, your majesty."
"Who said I'm alone?" He said, put his magical trunk on the ground, and opened the lid.
A few seconds later, Varko, Raksa, and Sandor Clegane came out of the trunk.
Sandor Clegane looked back at the trunk in confusion, as if still not believing that he had just been inside that small trunk.
That was practically the same expression he saw in anyone who had experienced the expanded space for the first time, so he was not bothered.
Over the past few weeks, his conversations with and behavior towards the Hound had turned him into a loyal follower.
Not to the point of giving his own life for him, but he won't be giving away his magical secrets to other people either.
Although the magical contracts Sandor signed wouldn't allow it anyway, Domeric still preferred that those he chose for his inner circle reach a certain level of loyalty before learning his magical secrets.
"Very well then, Kalmyr. Lead the way." He said.
Twenty minutes later, they were behind the secret door leading to a corridor inside the White Sword Tower.
Using Homenum Revelio, the Human-presence-revealing Spell, he found out that there were some men guarding the area now and then.
"Wait here for me." He said, "Unless I give you a signal, don't move from here."
Then, once the men walking around the corridor left, he summoned his camouflage cloak from his inventory, equipped it, and left the secret tunnel.
He muffled his footsteps and sneaked behind one of the men guarding the corridor.
"Stupefy," he whispered, and the man lost consciousness immediately after hit by the Stunning Spell.
Another cloth-removing and cloth-wearing spell later, he was now wearing the Baratheon guard armor.
He put the man in an empty room, cast a notice-me-not charm, and continued in the guard's place, without the camouflage cloak this time.
It was pretty late at night, and no one was able to see his face clearly, so they didn't bother him, and he was able to walk around without any problem.
A few minutes later, he was in the general vicinity of the room where the Tyrell siblings were kept as captives.
Two men were guarding the door, but he chose to be cautious regardless.
He used another Homenum Revelio around the room and frowned when he found that the room was filled with a dozen men hiding in various places.
A few more Homenum Revelio revealed that the other rooms around this were also filled with men in hiding.
He frowned.
This was not good. Something wasn't right.
He didn't change his walking pace and left the corridor without anyone suspecting him.
Once he was out of the corridor, he went into a room and frowned at the situation.
Did Stannis know that someone would try to rescue those two?
Considering that he had revealed the plan to only very few people, and none of them from the Tyrell camp, no one from the enemy side should know about it.
Which meant that Stannis probably either guessed that he would use his skinchangers to rescue the two Tyrell siblings or the Red Witch had warned Stannis about him.
Or maybe Stannis was just that paranoid.
Whatever the reason, a few dozen men won't be enough to stop him and his magically enhanced and magically equipped sworn shields.
The problem was that an attack on these people would alert the whole castle to their presence.
And that was not something that he wanted.
He called Varko, who picked up the communication mirror on the first ring.
"Your majesty, what are your instructions?" Varko asked in a whisper.
"Hold your position." He said, "The situation is slightly more complicated than I initially thought. I'll need some more time for reconnaissance."
"Reco-what?"
"Reconna… hmm… It means observing the enemy. Wait there and don't come out until I say so. I don't know how long this'll take."
"Be safe, your majesty," Varko said, and he cut the connection before pocketing the mirror.
Then he summoned and equipped his camouflage cloak again and left the room.
He needed more information, and the best people to get it from were the guards who kept watch over the Tyrell siblings' door.
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Next Chapters' Name:
Ch.435: Change of Plans
Ch.436: Granddaughter of Olenna Tyrell
Ch.437: Escape from the Tower